Wood products and method of making



NQV. 6, 1951 D. CHAPMAN 2,574,375

WOOD PRODUCTS AND METHOD OF MAKING Filed June 29, 1950 4 Sheets-Sheet l F/GJ.

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Nov. 6, 1951 D. CHAPMAN woon PRODUCTS AND METHOD OF MAKING 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 29, 1950 Nov. 6, 1951 D. CHAPMAN WOOD PRODUCTS AND METHOD OF MAKING 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 29, 1950 INVENTOR.

1951 D. CHAPMAN WOOD PRODUCTS AND METHOD OF MAKING 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed June 29, 1950 INVENTOR.

Patented Nov. 6, 1951 WOOD PRODUCTS AHD METHOD MAKIN Dave Chapman, Chicago, Ill.

Application June 29, 1950, Serial No. 171,087

Claims. 1

, My invention relates to wood products of improved appearance and to a method of making such products.

The provision of surfaces of attractive and beautiful appearance is an ever present problem in the fields of architectural exterior and interior design and decoration. furniture, display design for advertising and other purposes. and in related fields. Though a great variety of structural materials, surface coverings and coatings are available, natural grain surfaces of expensive or expensively treated woods have retained a very high appeal but their high cost renders them unavailable for widespread use. Their high cost is due in large part to the care and time heretofore required in treating them to produce suitable finishes and to the scarcity of woods having attractive natural grain. The appeal of such natural grain wood surfaces has led even to the use of expensive imitations and photolithograp'hic reproductions of natural wood grains.

Relatively abundant and inexpensive woods such as gum, pines, Douglas fir, etc., especially when fabricated as plywoods made up of rotary cut laminae, have naturally very unattractive and non-uniform grain. While plywoods have notable advantages with regard to low cost, structural strength, convenient form, ease of handling and workability, they also suffer from defects such as cracks, glue joints, patches inserted during fabrication to repair major defects such as knot holes, etc., and scratches, dents and other injuries acquired after fabrication. Such rotary cut plywoods are also characterized by non-uniformity of coloring, very gross, garish grain patterns with great color contrasts, and great difference of softness and hardness of the soft and. hard (spring and summer growth) portions of the grain, and extreme differences in the rate and extent of absorption of finishing materials such as stains and varnishes. Upon staining in the ordinary way with medium or dark stain, the highly absorptive, light colored, soft grain portions become quite dark and the substantially non-absorptive, hard grain portions darken little or not at all so that the relative color pattern is reversed to a point of greater color contrast than that originally present. Also the soft grain portions lift and fuzz. These and other disadvantages and defects of the inexpensive and abundant rotary cut plywoods has heretofore prevented their use where good appearing surfaces are required.

My invention provides an easy, rapid and inexpensive method of surface-treating wood having a natural grain and fairly smooth surface whereby the natural grain is not destroyed or supplanted but is improved and enriched, and defects such as cracks, hair checks, glue lines, patch outlines, scratches, dents, etc., are obscured and rendered non-apparent. Thus, by means of my invention, abundant inexpensive woods, particularly rotary cut plywoods, which heretofore have been generally unusable where pleasing and beautiful natural grain wood surfaces were required, are made eminently suitable for widespread use in such circumstances. My invention may also be applied to wood surfaces so as to provide directly a, variety of controlled finishes or it may be applied to a wood surface as a pretreatment which, in addition to its other efiects, will provide a high degree of control in further finishing, as by ordinary staining, by controlling and limiting the visual effects of high differential of absorption of stains by the hard and soft grain portions, of lifting and fuzzing of soft grain portions, and of hair-checking and cracking. My invention may also be so applied as to create easily, rapidly and inexpensively on the treated wood, the appearance of expensive woods and of woods treated by slow and expensive processes such as liming, pickling, bleaching, etc. My invention provides a high degree of control of the appearance to be produced on a wood surface whether the invention is applied either as a final finish or as a pretreatment on a wood surface which is to be subjected to further treatment such as staining.

In accordance with my invention, a relatively smooth wood surface having a visible natural grain is treated by applying thereon a generally uniform, relatively small scale design composed of spaced design e ements which collectively cover at least a considerable fraction of the wood surface but leave at least a considerable fraction of the total wood surface uncovered so that the natural grain remains visible through the open spaces in the applied design. Generally uniform" as applied to such a design is .to be understood as meaning that over a substantial area, the design has an over-all uniform appearance although the elements of the design within a small area may have considerable variation in size and may be of any desired form. The total area of the open spaces between or surrounding the solid elements of the design should be between about 30% and about of the entire area of wood, surface over which the design is applied.

The scale of the design is relatively small as 3 I compared with the large scale configuration of the wood grain. More specifically, the distance from center to center of adjacent solid elements of the applied design is preferably in the range of from one-fifth to one-sixteenth of an inch on wood surfaces for uses such as displays, interior walls, etc., in which they will normally be viewed at medium distances, i. e., in the range of from two to twenty feet. On wood for uses, such as for desk and table tops, in which the wood surface will be viewed generally at nearest distances, smaller scale designs in which the distance from center to center of neighboring solid elements of the design is as small as one-fortieth inch may be employed, and for uses in which the wood surface will normally be viewed at considerably greater distances, the scale of the applied design may be somewhat larger.

The designs used in accordance with my invention may vary greatly as to form of the individual design elements and theymay be applied in a variety of ways. They may be printed by various processes, such as from rubber printing plates and in presses such as are used in printing paper in the paper box making industry, by

screen printing, or by printing from rollers as in wall paper printing. An advantage of rubber printing plates is that their resiliency compensates for some unevenness or roughness of the surface on which printing is to be effected. The printing may be effected with various printing media, such as inks, stains, lacquers, etc, which may be black, gray, white or colored opaque or semi-opaque.

The design elements may be formed of various other materials, such as particles of metal, mineral or plastic, of wood particles or sawdust, of fabric, metal foil or other sheet materials, of synthetic or other fibres, such as flock, of gesso, or of a great variety of other materials. Metal foil or small particles may be applied, for example,

by die-stamping. Fine granular or fibrous material may be blown, dusted or rolled on a design printed of adhesive medium. Materials, such as plaster, capable of being applied in paste form, may be filled into depressions previously formed in the wood surface by dies, rolls or the like. The applied materials may be of any suitable color. When the particles of applied material are themselves of sizes within the desired range of sizes of the solid elements of the design, they may be distributed randomly over the wood surface with desired average spacing and pressed into the wood surface. The designs may be applied by scorching, as with heated dies. The solid elements of the design may be without apparent third dimension (thickness) as when formed of ink, paint or metal foil, or may have apparent third dimension, as when formed of solid particles adhered upon the wood surface. The designs may be applied to a wood surface which is not to be otherwise treated or finished .or they may be applied either before or after other treatments of the wood surface, such as staining, sealing, filling, varnishing. etc.

Figures 1 to 6 of the accompanying drawings .show six examples of suitable designs which may printed in relatively dark colored opaque paint,

and Fig. 9 showing the same area of wood sur-. face after stain has been applied over the entire surface. 7

The designs represented in the drawings are merely a few examples of suitably uniform designs. The designs may be composed of design elements of any desired form within therange of sizes above stated. It may be noted that Figs. 1

to 6 are reproductions of samples each of an area of three by three and one-fourth inches, from which dimensions the sizes of the design elements of those specific examples may readily be determined. Figs. 7, 8 and 9 show an area of wood surface which, in the original, measured approximately seven by nine inches, from which it can be seen that the substantially square dots, arranged substantially as in a checkerboard pattern, are approximately one-eighteenth inch square and spaced approximately one-ninth of "an inch between centers in both vertical and horizontal rows. It will be understood that my invention is not limited 'to the dimensions and scales shown in the designs shown merely as examples, and that such dimensions and scales may be varied in the ranges above stated.

As already mentioned, inexpensive, abundant woods, such as rotary cut, Douglas fir plywood having unattractive and non-uniform grain and color and defects such as cracks, patches, dents, scratches, etc., may, by treatment in accordance with my invention, be given an appearance of finer, more beautiful and more expensive wood. From Figs. 7, 8 and 9, it may be seen that when a design of the character defined herein is superimposed upon the surface of an unattractive. inexpensive wood, defects in the surface of such wood become. inconspicuous and unnoticeable. In the sample of plywood shown in Figs. 7, 8 and 9, is a large patch, commonly called a dutchman," which is quite conspicuous in Fig. '1. In Figs. 8 and 9, that portion of the "dutchman" over which the design is printed in accordance with my invention is practically unnoticeable.

As already mentioned, the material of which the solid elements of the designs are formed may be of various colors. Colors like or closely allied to the colors naturally occurring in the wood, especially the medium or darker colors thereof, generally produce the best natural wood effects. Other colors may be used for special effects. The treated wood may be given the appearance of limed, bleached, pickled or otherwise expensively treated wood by forming the elements of the overlaid design in accordance with my invention'of a material having the color and. desirably, other visual characteristics of the patina of such -a treated wood.

As previously mentioned my invention may be employed as a treatment for wood which, as illustrated more particularly by Fig. 8, renders the wood suitable to be put to use without further surface treatment. My invention may also be employed as a pretreatment for wood which is to be further treated, as by staining, in accordance with the tastes and desires of the user.

When a wood, having soft grain portions which are highly absorbent of the usual stains and greatly darkened thereby and hard grain portions which are substantially non-absorbent of such stains so that they are not substantially darkened thereby, is intended to be stained with such stains, such wood may first be treated in accordance with my invention by applying to its surface a design of the character previously defined, the solid design elements whereof are formed of a material which is non-absorbent .of

p the stain. For example, the design may be apcolor are now darkest and those which originally were darkest colored are now lightest. In Fig. 9,

I it canbe seen that the application of stain has caused a reversal of the light and dark elements of the. grain pattern and that, in the portion of .the wood surface of Fig. 9 not having the design printed on it, some areas have become very dark whereas other areas have remained comparatively very light so that a very unattractive appearance has been produced. However, the por -tion of the wood surface on which the design has been applied, has a pleasing, soft uniformity of tone. In Fig. 9 it can also be seen that the design elements of material non-absorptive of the stain, limit the darkening of the soft grain areas of the wood by the stain and greatly reduce and render unobvious the non-uniformities which are so objectionably apparent in Fig. 9 in that portion of the stained wood not having thedesign on it in accordance with my invention.

It can also be seen in Fig. 9 that in the areas where the wood surface has been treated-in accordance with my invention, the applied design elements also produce the effects previously discussed. The original harsh grain pattern is softened, enriched and given a more uniform appearance. Defects are obscured. In that portion of the wood surface shown in Fig. 9 which has been treated in accordance with my invention, the dutchman can be found only with great difiiculty if at all. In Fig. 9 it can also be seen that a great many cracks have appeared in the -'sign has been printed and, in the latter portion of the surface, are not easily recognized as cracks but appear rather as components of a'rich and pleasing grain.

This last described mode of practicing my in-,

vention produces the further very important advantage of providing a simple, easy, rapid and inexpensive method of producing in large quantity at any convenient location, a wood product which is not only suitable for widespread use butalso leaves to the user thereof a wide choice of final finish to be applied to the wood.

Instead of. forming the design elements of a dark color, as in Figs. 8 and 9, lighter colors may also be used in accordance with my invention. Neither is my invention restricted to the use of colors occurring naturally in woods. For example, when a design in accordance with my invention is printed on the raw wood in a light, warm, opaque off-white color, such as oyster white or very light pink, suiliciently light to distinguish 'it from the lightest color value of the natural 'as limed or bleached wood. For example, if 'a it walnut or mahogany stain is applied over the printed surface and the excess wiped ofl, the same piece of wood, by virtue of the design applied in accordance with my invention, becomes a remarkably effective simulation of genuine walnut or mahogany. In any case, whether such product were used directly as a limed or bleached wood, or were stained for use as walnut or mahogany, the'applied design also produces the results of obscuring defects and enriching the natural wood grain, reducing color contrasts and imparting an over-all unifying tone, as previously discussed, without obliterating the natural wood grain.

As a further example, I have, by my invention, achieved an amazing similarity to redwood by printing on a rotary cut Douglas fir plywood, a design in a dark sepia color similar in hue but of darker value-than the darker shades of the original grain. That alone produces an attractive finish, but when the product is brushed or wiped with a thinned mixture of half mahogany and half walnut stain, the stained product is remarkably like redwood in color and grain appearance. The original wild grain is subdued, enriched and given an over-all uniform tone, and defects in the original wood are rendered unnoticeable.

The foregoing examples are merely illustrative, and it is not to be inferred that my invention is limited touse on inexpensive woods such as Douglas fir and other wild-grained woods or to simulation of natural expensive woods. By my invention, practically any desired visual effect can readily be produced.

When inexpensive woods with soft grains are ordinarily stained and varnished, the grain lifts and fuzzes up to a great extent and subsequent drying produces hair-checking in the varnish or other coatin which adds greatly to the unattractive appearance of the so finished wood. A further important advantageous effect of by invention is that the overlaid design elements greatly suppress or eliminate the production of such unattractive appearance caused by fuzzing,

and checking.

Treatment of wood in accordance with my invention does not cause the wood to warp even when the overlaid designs are formed with liquid materials which penetrate the wood to a substantial extent. The design elements are discontinuous or spaced so that tensions and strains which might be produced by wetting and drying of the very small separated areas are not transmitted from one to another of such areas but are more or less absorbed in the intervening spaces and so cannot build up sufiiciently to cause warpmg.

Prior to my invention, it has been impossible to prefinish ordinary plywoods in the factory and under factory conditions with any practical degree of control and economy. Most previous attempts to prefinish plywood industrially have resulted in products which were susceptible to hair-checking and cracking, or in which defects were accentuated, or which were too expensive.

In accordance with a further mode of carrying .my invention into efiect, the grain of the wood may be first sealed with a transparent seal or with a seal or stain which contains color, such as walnut or mahogany or other color, and then to overlay or overprinta design of the character above described so that the result will be a finished end use material not requiring further finishing bythe end user. As in the other de scribed modes of carrying the invention intopractice, the natural grain of the wood itself is enriehed, the desired color is imparted, and the rain pattern and color are moderated and controlled by the applied design with the result that a wide assortment of visual effects including simulations of fine or rare woods may be obtained.

Because of the characteristics of the applied designs as heretofore mentioned, patches, abrasions, hair-checking, etc., are rendered unapparent, and a very attractive, fully preflnished material may thus be commercially.inexpensively and satisfactorily, mass produced.

Though my invention is not to be limited by any attempt to explain the observed phenomena, it may be said that apparently the cracks, scratches, glue joints and joint lines of patches are interrupted and intermittently obscured,

they are no longer clearly visible. As can be seen from Figs. 8 and 9, the original natural woodgrain remains highly visible after treatment in I claim:

1. As a new product of manufacture, wood having a surface with a visible natural grain and a generally uniform design applied on said surface, said design comprising small design elements covering collectively at least a considerable fraction of said wood surface and spaced apart so as to leave at least a considerable fraction of said wood surface uncovered and the natural grain thereof clearly visible, said design elements having at least one dimension.parallel to said wood surface of such small value that, at the distance at which said wood surface will generally be viewed during its intended use, the discrete design elements will be at least inconspicuous.

2. A product according to claim 1, in which the design elements are spaced so as to cover collectively from about 30% to about 70% of the wood surface within the area of application of I the design.

accordance with my invention but its original unattractive, non-uniform, wild and garish appear-' ance is replaced by a pleasing rich appearance of a fine wood. The individual design elements are easily clearly visible at suillciently short dis-. tances. At or beyond normal viewing distances,

though the elements of the overlaid design become individually quite inconspicuous against the.

easily visible natural grain pattern of the wood,

and a visual effect like that produced by the closely spaced fine grain markings which are found, in addition to the larger scale major grain patterns, in many expensive woods prized for their attractive grains. which the individual design elements are incon spicuous or discernible only with dlfliculty or not; at all, they are still optically effective in a man-- ner which is in large measure independent of the specific shapes of the design elements. It is significant that for application to wood surfaces which are to be viewed at average distances, as in the case of wall surfaces, for example, the range of scales of designs employed in accord ance with my invention is of the general order of the scales of the fine grain markings of naturally attractive wood grains but neither the design elements nor the whole designs are in any way pictorially imitative of wood grain. It willbe further noted that design elements within that range are of suflicient size that where they fail upon or cross over cracks, glue joints, hair checks and the like, they are capable of completely covering short lengths of such defects. 2

Regardiess of what may be the full and correct explanation, my invention does have a most important and advantageous result in that'by an easy, simple, rapid and inexpensive treatment, it renders abundant and inexpensive woods 'not only sultablebut really desirable for uses for which they heretofore have been very unsuitable and undesirable. My invention makes available for widespread use a wood product of appearance vastly superior to anything previously available at or anywhere near the same cost.

It is believed that, in view of the foregoing disclosure, there will be apparent to those skilled in the art many variations of manners of practising my invention within the scope'of the appended claims.

At viewing distances at 3. A product according to claim 1, in which the distance from center to center between adjacent design elements is in a range of from about one-fifth to about one-sixteenth of an inch on a wood surface to be viewed normally at distances of two feet or more, and as little as onefortieth of an inch on a wood surface to be viewed normally at nearer distances.

4. A product according to claim 1, wherein the solid elements of the design are of a color at least closely allied to a color occurring naturally in the wood.

5. A product according to claim 1, wherein the solid elements of the design have visual qualities allied with those of the patina of an expensively treated wood. T

6. A product according to claim 1, wherein the design elements are formed of a material substantially non-absorbent of wood stains to limit contrast produced by differential absorption of stain by hard and soft grain portions and impart an over-all unifying tone to the treated wood surface.

7. A method of treating a wood surface having a visible natural grain which comprises applying to said wood surface a generally uniform design composed of small design elements covering collectively a considerable fraction of such surface and spaced apart so as to leave a considerable fraction of said surface uncovered and the natural grain thereof clearly visible, said design elements having at least one of their two dimensions parallel to said surface of such small value that, at the distance at which said wood surface will generally be viewed during its intended use, the discrete design elements will be at least in conspicuous.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein the design is applied by printing.

9. A method according to claim 7, wherein design elements formed of solid materials are applied by die-stamping.

10. A methodaccording to claim '1, wherein solid particles comprising said dwign elements are pressed intothe wood surface.

11. A method according to claim 7, wherein the applied design elements are formed of material of a color at least closely allied with a color occurring naturally in the wood.

12. A method according to claim 7, wherein the design elements are formed of a material substantially non-absorbent of wood stains.

13. A method according to claim 7 wherein an adhesive medium is printed on the wood surface in the form 01 the design and finely divided solid material is applied to the printed adhesive. REFERENCES CITED A method according to clam 7, wherein the The following references are of record in the desi n is scorched on the wood surface. me 01 this Patent:

15. A method according to claim 7, wherein de- 6 ED STATES P TENT pressions are produced in the wood surface in Number Name Date the form of the design and subsequently filled 1334,79: Chafiee No 14' 1933 with opaque solid material.

DAVE CHAPMAR 2,226,855 Goldwyn Dec. 31. 1940 

